New Nicorette ads underscore process of kicking the habit

By Michael Johnsen

NEW YORK GlaxoSmithKline’s “Nicorette makes quitting suck less” campaign is a smart play that ought to continue a resurgence in sales of smoking cessation products.

For the 52 weeks ended Oct. 31, sales of nonprescription stop-smoking products were up slightly by 4.3% to $758 million across food, drug and mass (including Walmart) outlets, citing Nielsen Group data. But compare that with two years ago, where for the 52 weeks ended Nov. 3, 2007 sales were as high as $778.6 million, and category sales are still down 2.6%.

And to Mark Figliulo’s point, this approach adjusts the typical method of enticing smokers to quit. There has always been an air of support associated with many quit-smoking products, but using terms like “Suckometer” just seams more genuine, less clinical. And funny.

And then there’s the social media platform GSK is engaging with its page on Facebook — social media is becoming more and more a way to engage your primary consumer directly. In the first five days of having that page live, Dec. 7 through Dec. 11, there were already more than 100 “friends.” And that’s before the campaign even really begins to kick up in earnest.